Hi all. I hope you’re all well. I recently turned 35. Getting older isn’t something that bothers me. Not yet anyway; who knows how I’ll feel about it in the future? For some people, though, ageing (and, perhaps worse than that, looking ‘old’) is a scary prospect. I explore this below. Enjoy.
Do y’all remember mobile phones from the late 80s/early 90s? The massive bricks used by Wallstreet traders and the like. And by Zack Morris, of course (if you know, you know). They were clunky and expensive, which is why they weren’t exactly popular items.
No, mobile phones didn’t properly catch on until later in the 90s, when they became small enough to carry in our pockets (just about). Nokia was very popular at the time. I personally had a 5146 and a 3310. Actually, my second phone (as in, the phone I had after my first; I didn’t have two at a time!) was a Nokia 3330, which was essentially the same as the 3310, but in a rather fetching white case instead. It was beautiful.
With each passing year, these phones seemed to get smaller and smaller. Which was actually very impressive, considering that they also used to come with additional functionality and longer lasting batteries.
The dimensions of the Nokia 5146 were: 130 x 48 x 31mm. It weighed 170g. The 3310/3330, which came out a couple of years later, was: 113 x 48 x 22mm and weighed 133g. By the time you got to something like the Nokia 8210, you were looking at dimensions of 101.5 x 44.5 x 17.4mm, with a weight of just 79g. That is tiny, and they were very cool at the time!
This was broadly the trend with mobile phones; they got smaller and more powerful. But then everything changed. With the invention of the smartphone, having a miniscule handset was no longer an option. The phones had to be bigger to accommodate the touchscreen and processing power.
Suddenly, instead of getting smaller, phones started getting bigger. The first iPhone measured in at 115 x 61 x 11.6mm and weighed 135g. Not too dissimilar to a Nokia 3310. The latest iPhone (14) is 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm and weighs 172g. So, it is much longer and wider than a 5146 and slightly heavier, too. Though to be fair, it is around four times thinner!
But that is just for a regular iPhone 14. The Plus is even bigger and heavier; for those that need a device larger than a ‘standard’ phone. Phone manufacturers went from wanting to make phones as small as possible to seemingly as big as possible. But don’t take my word for it. Just check out how Zoolander made fun of how small people wanted their phones to be, with all the cool male models talking on phones the size of someone’s thumb.
At this juncture, you may be wondering why I’ve been blathering on about mobile phones in a blog post that is supposed to be about ageing. The reason is that I feel phone size is a perfect analogy for how we feel about age. Don’t believe me? Read on.
As a child, you are desperate to be older. The older children at school are ‘cooler’ and treated better. Did anyone else’s primary school make all children from Reception to Year 5 sit on the floor for assembly, while the Year 6 kids were sat on benches at the back? Lording it over their subjects with an arrogance that knew no bounds.
Most children also despise bedtime. They want to stay up for longer. They feel like they’re missing out. They can’t wait to be older so that they have a later bedtime. Or, better still, when they’re adults and they can go to bed whenever they want.
Then, in the early teens, you want to be 15 so that you can get into 15-rated films at the cinema. Then you want to be 16 so you can do the National Lottery. Then you want to be 17 so you can start learning to drive. Then you want to be 18 so you can legally drink and go to the pub (or a bar or club).
Even once you’re 18 and can legally do most things, there are still some places that are over 21s only. And even when you’re in your early 20s, if you work in some sort of office, you’ll likely be relatively new and will probably be viewed as a kid. The point is, there are plenty of reasons to want to grow up quickly, all throughout adolescence and even in early adulthood.
Then suddenly, it all changes. The age it which it changes differs from person to person. For some, it will be in their late 20s. For others, in their 30s or, perhaps, even in their early 40s. Whenever it happens, for the majority of people, there will come a time when you’ll wish you were younger.
There are myriad reasons why. It could be that the stress of work and/or paying the bills has you yearning for a more carefree time. It might be that your family responsibilities mean you can’t go out as much as you used to. It could just be that you want to go back to a period where you didn’t ache so much!
For me personally, I’m happy with where I am and who I am right now. Granted, I could do with hangovers being easier, like when I was a young whippersnapper. But, saying that, I don’t drink anywhere near as much now anyway, because who has the time?
The way I see it, I have plenty of time before I have a midlife crisis. I’ll pine for my youth then. Until that point, I’ll take soothing baths to ease my numerous ailments, and if I want to have a nice mug of Bovril before bed, who are you to judge? And I needn’t worry about my eyesight failing; my phone is so big, I can read it from clear across the room! Let’s just hope they don’t start getting smaller again.
Thank you for reading. It was quite a short blog post, but hey, no one’s getting any younger. Until next time, take care.
Rob Recommends
Sweet Tooth – TV – 8/10
If I were to tell you that this show first aired in 2021, that a large part of the plot revolves around a global pandemic, and that you see many characters wearing masks and exercising social distancing, you’d be forgiven for assuming that it was largely inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this show originally went into production in 2018 and is based on a comic book that was first released in 2009. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the show still ended up taking some inspiration from the real-life events of 2020, but the story was mostly already in place before coronavirus swept across the planet a few years ago.
Anyway, the show itself is pretty good. If you’ve seen The Last of Us, there’ll be a lot that is familiar here, but in a slightly more family-friendly way (though it is rated 12, so I wouldn’t recommend for young kids). The story is interesting and full of a diverse group of characters.
There’s no need to put this at the top of your watch list, but if you’re ever at a loss as to what to watch, this is well worth checking out.
A Rob Blog 